Kessler Foundation Research Center, West Orange, NJ, USA.
Mult Scler. 2012 May;18(5):647-53. doi: 10.1177/1352458511426735. Epub 2011 Dec 19.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the leading cause of neurological disability among young and middle-aged adults. One of the most devastating consequences of MS in this relatively young population group is unemployment. Although certain demographic and disease factors have been associated with employment, few studies have examined the contribution of person-specific factors, such as personality.
The goal of this study was to determine the extent to which personality, demographics, and clinical measures contribute to unemployment in MS.
A total of 101 individuals with MS who were enrolled in a clinical trial on cognition underwent a brief neuropsychological battery and completed questionnaires related to vocation, mood, fatigue, and personality. Neurological impairment was measured with the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS).
Employment status was related with disease duration, MS subtype, level of neurological impairment, fatigue, performance on measures assessing information processing speed (Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT)), learning and memory (Selective Reminding Test), and the personality characteristic of persistence. Based on a forward logistic regression analysis, EDSS, SDMT, and persistence were the strongest predictors of employment status.
These findings underscore the importance of personality on outcomes in MS and point to the need for more clinical attention and research in this area.
多发性硬化症（MS）是导致中青年人群神经残疾的主要原因。在这个相对年轻的人群中，MS 最具破坏性的后果之一是失业。尽管某些人口统计学和疾病因素与就业有关，但很少有研究探讨人格等个体因素的贡献。
本研究旨在确定人格、人口统计学和临床指标在多大程度上导致 MS 患者失业。
共有 101 名参加认知临床试验的 MS 患者接受了简短的神经心理学测试，并完成了与职业、情绪、疲劳和人格相关的问卷。神经功能损伤用扩展残疾状况量表（EDSS）进行测量。
就业状况与疾病持续时间、MS 亚型、神经损伤程度、疲劳、信息处理速度（符号数字模态测试（SDMT））、学习和记忆（选择性提醒测试）的测量结果以及人格特征的坚持性有关。基于向前逻辑回归分析，EDSS、SDMT 和坚持性是就业状况的最强预测因素。
这些发现强调了人格对 MS 结果的重要性，并指出需要在这一领域进行更多的临床关注和研究。
